Parents don't tell this story much anymore because it's an old one that lacks a happy ending - the kind that begins with "Be careful," then works its way to a vague promise - "Soon" - and drifts off to "I told ya so." But there was a time when teens heard it every time they ran out to shop at Valley Fair or to get fast food near the Little Ferry circle, just a short walk across the bridge that spans the Hackensack River.

"Be careful!" they'd yell. "There's plenty of traffic there!"

"Aww, mom, please.&"

The Route 46 span has been burdened with excess traffic nearly since it opened in 1934. Now called "functionally obsolete," it still hosts a non-stop stream of trucks, cars and pedestrians. Collisions are frequent, too, especially on the Little Ferry approach. But none was as heart-wrenching as the crash that mowed down Gloria Popp and Brenda Vopasek 42 years ago.

That's when a speeding car hit a truck, crossed a median and plowed into both 15-year-olds. Gloria's leg was torn from her body. She died a day later on Nov. 8, 1969. Brenda now walks with a limp. Then there was Gloria's 13-year-old brother, Robert, who watched as his bloodied, unconscious sister was loaded into an ambulance. By Robert's account, it took decades of therapy for him to overcome the tragedy. It didn't help that the driver eluded trial by leaving the country.

But Robert clung to a promise made time and again by state and local officials. "We were told guardrails would be installed," he said. "A guardrail might have saved my sister's life."

The father of two has been reminding officials of that pledge for 42 Novembers. Each anniversary of Gloria's death, he lays a wreath on the bridge. Each year, he hears the same answer:

"Soon."

In 2009, the Department of Transportation announced that a $21 million rehabilitation project, including guardrails, would start by summer 2011.

But Robert was skeptical. And sure enough, nothing happened.

DOT, it turns out, is combining the bridge work with a reconfiguration of the Little Ferry circle, the site of some of the region's worst traffic jams. "They're near each other, so merging them should save money," said agency spokesman Tim Greeley. Meanwhile, DOT must acquire land near the circle.

When will work begin?

"Soon."

For Robert, this story remains a legend until an old promise becomes the truth.

"I told ya so," he said.

Black Hole buzz

Another example of long-overdue roadwork can be found on a four-block stretch of West Railway Avenue near the Farmers' Market in Paterson, where dozens of cavernous potholes are prompting early nominations for our annual Black Hole awards.

"I can't even walk there, much less drive there," said Dot Hyman, who now takes a circuitous detour on her way to work to avoid the axle busters on West Railway from Crooks to Michigan avenues. "I've been calling the mayor's office since February, but so far nothing's been done."

"How can they let a road get that bad?" wailed reader Frank Yodice, whose car's undercarriage was damaged there last week.